


A Garden on Fire

by AnonymousSpacePrince



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anger, Light Angst, M/M, Marauders' Era, Snogging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-10-21
Packaged: 2019-01-20 23:32:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12444351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousSpacePrince/pseuds/AnonymousSpacePrince
Summary: "S'okay," Sirius said, "a bit of aggressive snogging is much better than hitting something."Interestingly, snogging your best mate is a great way to dispel anger towards your ex.





	A Garden on Fire

**Author's Note:**

> this is one hundred percent a vent fic. more on that after the story.

    On his way into the castle from Quidditch practise, James caught sight of Lily standing by a small fire with one of her friends. Their breakup earlier in the year had been amicable and they maintained a friendship, so he walked towards them with the intention of saying hello, but he stopped short when he realised the fire was actually an object on fire.

    He could see it from between them as he approached, still far enough to be unnoticed by the girls but close enough now to make out what was burning. He could see blue parchment on fire, along with reds and yellows that he recognised at once as tissue paper folded into flowers. Hurt and immense anger welled up inside him at once, and he turned back in the other direction and stormed up to the castle.

    He entered the common room stomping and scowling so hard, his broom still thrown over one shoulder, that some first and second years scattered a distance from him. Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked up at him from where they were sat around the fire. Peter looked worried, Remus looked concerned, and Sirius arched an eyebrow and said, "damn, the skies are clear; I wasn't expecting a storm today."

    James frowned at him instead of laughing, and Sirius' expression fell to a serious, caring best-friendly one at once. James was vaguely grateful for Sirius, though his sour feelings towards Evans didn't fade even slightly.

    "Did practise go poorly?" Sirius asked.

    "No, practise was great," James gritted out, aware that his volume and growl made a few more young students group together and distance themselves from him.

    "Do you want to tell us what happened?" Remus asked, not pushing. James was distantly thankful for him as well.

    James glanced around at the busy common room, taking notice of a couple people watching him after his angry entrance. "I shouldn't," he said, lowering his voice to a reasonable volume with difficulty. "Not until I've calmed down." He could feel his heart beating furiously in his chest.

    Sirius stood up at once and said, "okay, let's get you away from the innocent bystanders, yeah?" He put one arm around James' shoulders and steered him gently towards the stairwell to their dormitory.

    Up in the safety of their dorm with the door closed, Sirius let go of James and gave him a concerned look. "Alright, what happened?"

    James tossed his broom onto his bed and leaned against the wall, resisting the urge to smack his head against it out of pure anger. He took a deep, would-be calming breath and said, "you know those flowers I made Lily when we were going out? The paper ones I made _by hand_ that left my fingers all crusted with bloody muggle superglue for a week after?"

    Sirius, his brows slightly furrowed, said, "yeah, I remember."

    "Well, she set them on fire out on the grounds just now," James said.

    Sirius' face became the picture of surprise. "What?! I thought everything was fine between you two."

    "Yeah, I thought so too," James said bitterly. "I had _thought_ we were friends and there weren't any hard feelings."

    "What a bitch!" Sirius exclaimed, and then he frowned. "I'm sorry, mate."

    "I'm just fucking angry," James said, voice shaking slightly. "I haven't done anything to her to deserve that, and I worked hard on those damned flowers."

    "Yeah, it's fucked up of her," Sirius said. He looked angry too, James realised, in a secondhand sort of way.

    "I'm too damn good for these people," James said bitterly. It was true. Lily wasn't the first person who had acted like a friend and turned out to value him very little.

    Sirius took a step forward and touched James' shoulder in a placating sort of way. It was a wonder to James how Sirius seemed to always diffuse his anger instead of making it worse when he did things like that. "You are too good for them," Sirius agreed. "You deserve better than that shit."

    "Ugh!" James growled. "I'm bloody sick of people stabbing me in the back! I want to fucking hit something."

    Sirius put his other hand on James' other shoulder and gave him a serious look. "Don't go hitting things, that'll do more harm than good."

    "Well, it'd get the anger out, wouldn't it?" James asked bitterly. Suddenly, acting before thinking it through, James grabbed Sirius round the back of his head and hauled him into a rough kiss. He kissed him heavily for a few seconds before pulling away just as suddenly. "Shit, sorry, I really didn't think that all the way through," James said breathlessly, his heart redoubling its efforts to beat out of his chest.

    Sirius smiled easily, moving one of his hands to the side of James' neck. It was warm and steady. "S'okay," Sirius said, "a bit of aggressive snogging is much better than hitting something."

    "I suppose," James said. He thought that might've been an invitation to continue, which he really wouldn't mind doing at all, but he wasn't entirely sure.

    "C'mon then, gimme your worst," Sirius said, giving James a gentle tug towards him, more of a suggestion than a demand.

    At once, James wrapped his hands back around the back of Sirius' head and pulled him into another kiss, this time smoother and slightly gentler. His anger was still bubbling steadily within him, though, so the kiss was rough and hot, his fingers tightening in Sirius' hair and lips brutally kissing Sirius' mouth open.

    Sirius easily met the demand of the heavy kiss, pushing James back against the wall and kissing back with equally swift and sharp movements. James only felt strange about kissing his best friend for a short moment before Sirius' talent at it overshadowed every other thought. Even his anger began to fade as James poured it into the kiss.

    Sirius tilted his head a slightly different way and sucked on James' bottom lip, running his tongue firmly over it, and James gasped as a shiver tore through him.

    It must've been a bit, but it felt like only a few short moments before James' anger had ebbed away to nothing, all his bitterness and fury towards Lily either poured into or eliminated by the kiss. James let his mouth part from Sirius' with a soft _pop_ , still holding Sirius close, and let his head fall back against the wall. He felt simultaneously sated and worked up in a whole new, far more pleasant way.

    "Feel better?" Sirius asked, and James was pleased to hear that his voice sounded wrecked and a good octave deeper than usual.

    "Don't even remember what I was angry about," James responded, his voice in no better a state.

    Sirius chuckled, a low, raspy sound that sent sparks through James. "That's good."

    "I think I finally understand that saying, 'make love, not war'," James said, and then felt his face heat up when he properly realised what he'd said.

    Sirius just chuckled again and rubbed the pad of his thumb lightly over James' pulse point. "Think it'd still be that hot without the anger?" Sirius asked.

    James opened his eyes for the first time since they stopped kissing and took in the look on Sirius' face: all flushed cheekbones and red, swollen lips and dilated pupils. "I think it'd be hotter," he said truthfully.

    Sirius smirked, which only made him look more ridiculously attractive. "Only one way to find out, eh?"

    As they began to kiss again, a bit softer and slower and more sensuous than before, James had the fleeting thought that this would make up for the burning of an entire garden of handmade flowers. Slightly less fleeting was the follow-up thought that Sirius would never burn his romantic gestures if James were to direct them at him.

**Author's Note:**

> right, so, yesterday my ex (with whom i had maintained a friendship after a plenty amicable breakup) set fire to flowers i made her early this year, totally out of the blue and for no apparent reason (as we broke up months ago). it was an insult and a betrayal, and since i had nobody to snog my anger away with, i just wrote this to get my feelings out.
> 
> anyway, i would like to smooth out the transition points in this a bit, but as i only wrote it as a way to get my feelings out, it's not so much about perfect storytelling so i'm just leaving it as is. hope you enjoyed it regardless.


End file.
